CONCEPT OF THE LAW AND GRACE !!

A CONCEPT CLOSELY INTERTWINED WITH GRACE IS THE CONCEPT OF LAW. EVEN AS SOME CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT THE BASIC NATURE OF GOD AS REVEALED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT IS DISSIMILAR FROM HIS NATURE AS REVEALED IN THE NEW., SO ALSO CHRISTIAN BELIEVE THAT HE MEANS GAINING SALVATION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT DIFFERS FROM THAT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. THE MOST COMMON VIEW IS THAT SALVATION BY THE LAW IN THE OLD  AND BY GRACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. EXAMINATION OF THE CONTEXT OF THE GIVING OF THE LAW PROVIDES CLUES CONCERNING INTENDED ITS PURPOSE. FIRST THE LAW WAS GIVEN WITH A GRACIOUS COVENANT: GOD HAD MADE A COVENANT OF GRACE WITH ABRAHAM., A COVENANT WHICH THE GIVING OF THE LAW NEVER NULLIFIED. SECOND, GOD HAD GRACIOUSLY RESCUED ISRAEL FROM EGYPT PROVIDENTIALLY SUSTAINED THE PEOPLE WITH MANNA AND OTHER MIRACLES DURING THEIR SOJOURN IN THE DESERT. THIRD, THE LAW WAS GIVEN AFTER ISRAEL HAD, AS A BODY OF BELIEVERS, MADE A COMMITMENT TO SERVE THE LORD. THUS THE LAW WAS GIVEN, NOT AS A MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION, BUT AS A GUIDELINE FOR LIVING AFTER ISRAEL'S TO SERVE THE LORD. WAS THE LAW GIVEN HYPOTHETICALLY AS A MEANS OF JUSTIFICATION (SALVATION). PAUL TEACHES THAT NO ONE CAN EARN RIGHTEOUSNESS STANDING BEFORE GOD BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW. BECAUSE CHRIST HAS FULFILLED THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW IN US? WE HAVE TO DISTINGUISH THOSE LAWS WHICH MAY BE SAID WHICH ARE TO POINT FORWARD TO CHRIST.  THOUGH THEY WERE FULLY EXPLAINED BY HIM AND WHICH CONTINUE TO BE BINDING MORAL TRUTHS FOR THE CHRISTIAN. SO THE LAW IS ONLY A SHADOW OF THE GOOD THINGS THAT OUR COMING. SALVATION THROUGH OUT THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS HAS ALREADY BEEN MENTIONED SEVERAL TIMES OF LAW AND GRACE.  FAITH IN GOD'S PROVISION OF A SACRIFICE REMAINS THE BASIS FOR SALVATION THROUGHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE GENERAL  QUESTION OF CONTINUITY VERSUS DISCONTINUITY ACROSS OLD TESTAMENTS AND NEW TESTAMENTS IS THE MINISTRY OF THE "HOLY SPIRIT; IS HIS WORK THE SAME IN BOTH TESTAMENTS, OR HAS HIS WORK BEEN DIFFERENT SINCE PENTECOST? THEOLOGIANS ARE IN CONSIDERABLE DISAGREEMENTS ON THIS MATTER. PAUL K. JEWETT EXEMPLIFIES A "DISCONTINUOUS PERSPECTIVE" WHEN HE SAYS: "THE CHURCH AGE MAY BE CALLED THE AGE OF THE SPIRIT, AND THE TIME THAT PRECEDED IT MAY BE CITED AS A TIME WHEN THE SPIRIT WAS NOT YET GIVEN, JOHN 7:39 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SPIRITS MANIFESTATION BEFORE AND AFTER PENTECOST WAS SO GREAT THAT IT MAY BE STATED IN ABSOLUTES, THOUGH SUCH ABSOLUTES SHOULD NOT BE PRESSED LITERALLY G. WALTERS CONCLUDES THAT THE MINISTRY IN HIS BOOK "HOLY SPIRIT," DEMONSTRATES CONTINUITY THROUGHOUT THE OLD THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. HE SAYS: THE TRINITY EXISTED FROM THE BEGINNING! THERE IS NO IRRECONCILABLE ANTITHESIS, AS SOME WOULD SUGGEST, BETWEEN TEACHING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE TEACHING OF THE NEW ON THIS SUBJECT JUST AS NO DICHOTOMY EXISTS BETWEEN
THE OLD TESTAMENT EMPHASIS ON THE PROVIDENTIAL NATURE OF GOD'S DEALINGS WITH MEN AND THE NEW TEACHING CONCERNING HIS GRACE, BETWEEN THE ACTIVITY IN CREATION OF THE PRE-INCARNATE LOGOS, ON THE ONE HAND, AND THE WORK OF REDEMPTION OF THE INCARNATE SON, ON THE OTHER, SO IT IS WITH TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE CONCERNING HE "HOLY SPIRIT." IT IS THE SAME FATHER AND THE SAME SON WHO IS ACTIVE IN BOTH TESTAMENTS, AND IT IS THE SAME HOLY SPIRIT WHO IS AT WORK THROUGHOUT THE AGES. TRUE, WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE NEW TESTAMENT "REVELATION" BEFORE WE ARE GIVEN A DETAILED
 PICTURE OF HIS ACTIVITY. BUT THIS FULLER TEACHING GIVEN BY OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES CONFLICTS IN NO WAY WITH WHAT WE LEARN FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT. THE APOSTLES FOLLOWED THEIR LORD IN REGARDING THE OLD TESTAMENT AS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD.  2 TIM 3;16.  THE HIGH ESTEEM WITH WHICH THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS REGARDED THE OLD TESTAMENT STRONGLY SUGGESTS THAT HE WOULD NOT CONSCIOUSLY OR INTENTIONALLY HAVE MISINTERPRETED SCRIPTURES. THUS WHEN CHRIST COMMANDED HIS APOSTLES TO WAIT FOR THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, WE CAN UNDERSTAND TO WAIT FOR A SPECIAL MANIFESTATION (REVEALING) OF THE HOLY SPIRIT'S PRESENCE, A MANIFESTATION THAT WOULD EMPOWER THEM TO INITIATE THE MISSIONARY PROGRAM FOR THIS AGE. BAPTIZING AND "COMING" ON THEM ARE USED AS SYNONYMS IN THIS INSTANCE, ACTS 1:5,8. JOHN BAPTIZED WITH WATER, BUT WITHIN A FEW DAYS YOU WILL BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND YOU WILL BE GIVEN POWER WHEN THE SPIRIT COMES UPON YOU.  LIKE CHRIST, THE HOLY SPIRIT SAME TODAY, AS YESTERDAY,, WILL BE TOMORROW.  THE DISCIPLES WERE STILL TO WAIT FOR HIS COMING, AND A SPECIAL MANIFESTATION OF HIS PRESENCE
 THAT WOULD TRANSFORM THEM FROM FAINTHEARTED DISCIPLES INTO COURAGEOUS APOSTLES, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS ALREADY PRESENT IN THEIR LIVES. THIS INTERPRETATION OF JOHN 7: 37-39 WHICH IS A DIFFICULT PASSAGE READS: ON THE LAST AND GREATEST DAY OF THE FEAST PROBABLY THE SEVENTH DAY SINCE THE EIGHTH WAS A DAY OF REST AFTER THE FEAST, JESUS STOOD AND SAID IN A LOUD VOICE, " IF A MAN IS THIRSTY, LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HAS SAID, STREAMS OF LIVING WATER WILL FLOW FROM WITHIN HIM" BY THIS HE MEANT THE SPIRIT, WHOM THOSE WHO BELIEVED IN HIM WERE LATER TO RECEIVE. UP TO THAT TIME THE SPIRIT HAD NOT BEEN GIVEN, SINCE JESUS HAD NOT YET BEEN GLORIFIED. IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN,  JESUS GLORIFICATION REFERS TO HIS OFFERING OF HIMSELF ON THE CROSS AND THE COMPLETION OF HIS EARTHLY WORK. THE PASSAGE SUGGESTS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD NOT MANIFESTED HIMSELF IN A WAY THAT COULD BE SPOKEN OF AS STREAMS OF LIVING WATER FLOWING FROM THE HEARTS OF BELIEVERS,  AND WOULD NOT MANIFEST HIMSELF IN THIS WAY UNTIL CHRIST HAD FINISHED HIS EARLY MINISTRY. THE METAPHOR "STREAMS OF LIVING WATER" SUGGESTS, IN A DESERT SUCH AS PALESTINE, A REASON FOR REJOICING AND PRAISE. THE MOST LIKELY REFERENCE TO THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS PASSAGE. IS THE SPECIAL MANIFESTATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AT PENTECOST. IN  ACTS:2:11.
MANY EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS VIEW THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A RATHER INACTIVE MEMBER OF THE TRINITY THROUGHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT,  ONE WHO DID NOT COMMENCE SIGNIFICANT INTERVENTION IN HUMAN AFFAIRS UNTIL PENTECOST. THERE ARE, IN FACT,  SEVERAL PASSAGES WHICH APPEAR TO INDICATE A SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE ACTIVITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AFTER PENTECOST. JOHN 7:39 SAYS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD NOT BEEN GIVEN AT THE TIME OF CHRIST'S EARTHLY MINISTRY JOHN 14:26 USES THE FUTURE TENSE TO SPEAK OF THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IN JOHN 16:7 CHRIST SAYS THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL NOT COME UNLESS HE (CHRIST) GOES AWAY, AND IN ACTS 1:4-8 HE COMMANDED THE DISCIPLES TO WAIT IN JERUSALEM UNTIL THE HOLY SPIRIT HAD COME ON THEM. THERE ARE, ON THE OTHER HAND, SEVERAL PASSAGES THAT SPEAK OF AN ACTIVE HOLY SPIRIT MINISTRY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELT AMONG THE ISRAELITES IN MOSES' DAY ISA, 63:10-14. THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELT IN JOSHUA NUM 27:18 HE MOVED KING SAUL TO PROPHECY AND HE INDWELT IN DAVID  THE HOLY SPIRIT EMPOWERED SAMSON JUDGES 13;25. ALL THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS WRITERS PROPHESIED AS THEY DID BECAUSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ENERGIZING. THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELT AMONG THE ISRAELITES WHO RETURNED FROM THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED BY SEVERAL EVANGELICAL THEOLOGIANS THAT THE REASON GOD DID NOT REVEAL THE CONCEPT OF THE TRINITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE DEGREE WHICH HE DID IN THE NEW, WAS THAT ANCIENT ISRAEL WAS SURROUNDED BY POLYTHEISTIC NATIONS AND CULTS.  INTRODUCTION WOULD HAVE ALL OF THE CONCEPT WOULD HAVE ALLOWED RAPID ASSIMILATION OF THE POLYTHEISTIC PAGAN RELIGION INTO ISRAEL'S WORSHIP. THERE ARE SEVERAL REFERENCES TO THE HOLY SPIRIT'S ACTIVITY BEFORE PENTECOST IN THE NEW TESTAMENT ALSO. JOHN THE BAPTIST WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT FROM HIS MOTHER'S WOMB.
 LUKE 1:15. ZECHARIAH, HIS FATHER, WAS FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT RESULTING IN THE PROPHECY FOUND IN LUKE 1:67-79. THE HOLY SPIRIT WAS ON SIMEON INSPIRING HIM TO PROPHECY WHEN HE HELD THE BABY JESUS. LK 2: 25-27. JESUS TOLD THE APOSTLES AT THE LAST SUPPER THAT THEY KNEW  THE HOLY SPIRIT, BECAUSE HE WAS ALREADY DWELLING WITH THEM. JOHN 14:17.